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Post by Josh Devlin on Dec 20, 2020 18:46:46 GMT -6
One disadvantage of being in sports as a career was the three to four months of off-season, particularly while only playing in the minor leagues and with a much less lucrative contract. While he had plenty of excess cash in the summer, funds did get a bit tight in the winter, necessitating some supplemental income. Thankfully, the racer had a solution for that; while technically not an employee, he did contract work for a video game developer by the name of Shovelware Studios. As the firm's name implied, their specialty was remastering abandoned properties that had loyal fanbases, but not enough for A-list studios to want to remaster themselves due to limited staff. One of the studio's larger projects was not just a remaster - it was the first Western release of the third game in the Arcana Force trilogy, originally produced in 1995. The HD remaster was slated for a Summer 2021 release, but they were also producing a limited Retro Edition for the popular 1991 Supercom system. It was hard to believe there was a company still producing titles for a decades-old system, but a resurgence in the retro market made anything possible. Josh had arrived prepared - in addition to packing the necessary hardware, he had packed two meals, a six-pack of bottled water, and powdered drink mix to add flavor. After all, he had played about a third of the way through the original Arcana Force 3 with an unofficial translation patch around a decade ago. This was a top-down action game with RPG elements; it was going to be a long one. According to the e-mail Josh received, the Supercon version of the game was very close to its final product; almost every area had been completed, and most of what remained to be done was bug hunting and minor game balance tweaks. Arcana Force was a unique trilogy in that its second and third entries supported local multiplayer. Of course, the retro version would not support online multiplayer...at least, not without some serious aftermarket tweaking. He had heard he would have a second player to help test the multiplayer mode with. While the game supported up to three players, he would only be testing the multiplayer mode with two. Josh's Ponyta, carrying his equipment, and Clyde, carrying him, trotted up to the studio's Cerise branch. He dismounted, then grabbed his belongings from the fire-type and recalled them both. The young man entered the studio's front office and awaited security... q5S_8arKp_--- Jae Tsukuda Beta Tester Always hiring; Anyone | Up to 2 characters 4 posts per character minimum A local indie developer is looking for beta testers to help fix bugs in their latest project. Just because it's a game doesn't mean it will always be fun! You'll need a creative mind and an eye for detail to squash bugs and ensure the final product is as playable as possible. You might be expected to pull long hours - don't forget to stay hydrated! This Job is Self-Moddable. Unlike most Jobs, rolling above a 50, not below, will trigger random events. Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Instructions All posts have a 100 word-count minimum. Each character must make four posts to complete the Job. Your Dexterity skill will affect your rolls. {WC: 414} {PC: 1}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Dec 25, 2020 1:29:15 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Dec 25, 2020 14:25:47 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae Tsukuda A random event has occurred!A company representative greeted the two contract workers, leading them through some winding hallways and past a contact-center area to an elevator. It was clear that the widescreen TV and console near the lobby was not the one they would be testing on. Once inside, the three slowly descended to the basement. It was completely unfinished, with heat ducts, water pipes, and gas pipes completely exposed. A bit creepy, to say the least. After swiping his badge to get past a security door, the middle-aged man led the two to another unfinished room with their setup. For those who played on modern consoles, the 24-inch CRT television was a bit small, but it would, in theory, be perfectly serviceable. "Alright, good luck to both of you! Call up front if you need anything." The man switched the console on and left, letting the two get comfortable. A beautiful title screen, labeled "ARCANA FORCE 3 - PRESS START", prompted the player to begin the game...except the Start button on the first player's controller was sticky and would require some effort to break loose!
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Post by Josh Devlin on Dec 25, 2020 14:47:18 GMT -6
"I am!" Josh greeted the young girl as the two descended the elevator. "Name's Josh. Josh Devlin - you might know me if you follow Pokémon racing at all. That's what I do during the warmer months. Contract work like this is what I do in the off-season." He made sure his personal cell phone was off; as much as he would like to send himself pre-release screenshots of the game and a picture of the office, NDA was a thing. A scary thing. "I've actually done work for this company before. Are you familiar with The Last Link and Super Zebbo? They're a top-down medieval action game and a futuristic exploration-based platforming game, respectively. Just a month or so ago, they released a combo game that not only links the two games together, but shuffles all of the items around to different spots. It's different every time you play, too - you have to take a different path through the game every time you play it! I'm addicted to it."The unfinished testing room didn't surprise Josh one bit - after all, they were notorious for being a low-budget studio. Low-budget didn't mean low quality, though! When Josh sat down to start the game, he could get the Start button to register easily! The sides of his thumb turned white as he struggled, but eventually succeeded, in getting the button to push down! "What in the world...it's like grape juice was spilled all over it or something." Josh stepped up to the console and yanked the company's controller out of the first port, replacing it with a personal one he had brought. It was much better, other than that since it was a Kantonian model instead of a Unovan model, the controller cord was only six feet long instead of twelve feet. "Can you help me move the sofa up? My controller cable is too short."After the opening cutscenes, it gave Josh and his co-worker a prompt to select from six different character classes: the Fighter, the Grappler, the Thief, the Magician, the Cleric, and the Amazoness. It was important to build a balanced party, as the selection screen warned the players there was no way to change their choices once the game started. --- f8Uc_IbLJae Tsukuda {WC: 375} {PC: 2}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Jan 11, 2021 12:57:18 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Jan 14, 2021 18:03:34 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae Tsukuda A random event has occurred!
When Jae confirmed her choice of character, it also confirmed Josh's choice of character, which happened to be the Magician he was hovering over while reading character descriptions! Furthermore, the "back" button didn't seem to work - the game was prompting the two players to divide points among Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence, Spirit, and Luck. This was the final step before the adventure was to begin. After distributing their points, the game started, panning over Castle Altena, a kingdom in the polar wastes. The castle and surrounding town were kept warm by Queen Corrine's magic. Corrine and several of her advisors were in the castle's war room, discussing plans to invade the other cities of the world. Her scheme was to collect the seven other Arcanae from those cities, using the power of all eight to open the way to the Holy Land. Meanwhile, at the Magic Academy, Angela, Josh's character, was having trouble with some new spells. Thanks to the Magic Academy's royal connections, its students could freely enter and leave the castle. After class, Angela met up with Hawk, Jae's character, in the castle courtyard; while Hawk wasn't Royal Family, snooping into the castle through a secret entrance was no problem for the wily, young man. The two of them overheard Queen Corrine's sinister plan to get to the Holy Land. They learned that to open the gate to the Holy Land, a cursed spell must be cast to release the energy of the eight Arcanae. However, the spell was cursed as to kill its caster. They wanted Angela to cast it. The two of them are discovered shortly afterward, and suddenly find themselves teleported outside the town gates, in the Sub-Zero Snowfield. Angela and Hawk, having no choice, started running for their lives. The two of them are bitten by the cold, and eventually pass out. When they wake up, they find themselves in warm beds in the town of Elrand. The inn's fortune teller read fortunes for the two bewildered fugitives, giving them their next destination: the port town of Wendel. There was plenty of shopping to do yet, though...
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Post by Josh Devlin on Jan 15, 2021 20:01:15 GMT -6
A quizzical look covered Josh's face when the game seemingly out of nowhere selected his character for him. "I didn't hit anything!" he chirped in a cracked voice before clearing his throat. "Guess I'm playing a blasty caster. Those are fun, too. I played through some of this game with a translation patch when I was younger - we'll get help from an AI-controlled character after a couple hours." One really nice quality-of-life upgrade was the split screen when the two characters were far enough apart that they couldn't both be shown on one screen together, instead of simply restricting movement based on player one's position. He quickly discovered that they still needed to be on the same screen to change maps, though; no leaving town without Jae! Once the two were satisfied with their equipment upgrades and medical supplies (well, to what extent they could; Lucre was hard to come by early in the game), Josh suggested that Jae head with him into the Sub-Zero Snowfield, perhaps spending time wandering to gain a couple of extra levels while looking for the way to Wendel. Without any magic, Josh would have a tough time, as Angela would be reduced to whacking wildlife with the business end of her staff... KU6nCTM5Jae Tsukuda{WC: 208} {PC: 3}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Jan 16, 2021 11:45:59 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Jan 18, 2021 18:24:40 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae TsukudaA random event has occurred!The two headed south toward the Sub-Zero Snowfield. While Hawk's daggers were operating as expected, the double hits letting Jae take down snow wolves and sahuagin easily, Angela's weapon was not equipped! Furthermore, her spell list was completely empty! While it was slow, given all the enemies currently in the Snowfield were only worth one experience point, the two did manage to reach level 2 before Angela passed out from the extreme cold...
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Post by Josh Devlin on Jan 18, 2021 18:38:03 GMT -6
"I wanted to," Josh answered Jae with a raised voice, "but it picked my character for me when you picked yours!" He immediately felt bad for his tone. "...Sorry for yelling at you. I'm just used to playing the tank is all. When we get to the point where we get the third character, we really should pick either Kevin the monk or Duran the fighter; they're really tanky and should keep us safe while we set up."Once Angela and Hawk woke up, they found themselves in a warm inn in the town of Elrand, with all of their health restored. The town had much the same architecture as the Magic Kingdom, but there was snow piling up everywhere but the main roads. It wasn't Wendel, either - to get there, the two of them would need to take the last sailing ship out of the Polar Wastes to a town on the way to the Castle City of Jad, then board a connecting voyage to Wendel. "Man, when's the first dungeon?" Josh asked aloud to no one in particular. "I'm all for a good story, but it's taking a while to get to some real action!"--- Jae TsukudanQoka2Bo{WC: 197} {PC: 4}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Jan 20, 2021 23:44:13 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Jan 23, 2021 22:12:22 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae Tsukuda Nothing happened!All rolls were passed.Everything appeared to be functioning as intended on the boat trip to the Castle City of Jad - the faux-3D perspective on the world map looked stunning for a 16-bit console not capable of true 3D. Rather impressive for such an old piece of hardware, to say the least. Near the end of the trip, a stray faerie flitted around Hawk's, then Angela's, head, explaining what it is that Queen Corrine was ultimately after: the Worldblade, a sword that slept at the roots of Yggdrasil. The Eight Arcanae were the secret to breaking the seal to the Holy Land, where the sword was hidden. After quite a long cutscene, the goal of collecting all nine Spirits of Yggdrasil was made evident. The fairy, now residing underneath the hat of a very angry and stressed Angela, was the first. The two would need to travel the world and collect the remaining eight Spirits, the first of which was Wisp, Spirit of Light. The other seven could be collected in any order the players liked. To get from the Castle City of Jad to the Temple of Light, where Wisp was located, the two would need to travel through the Mushboom Forest and into the Waterfall Cave, the game's first real dungeon.
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Post by Josh Devlin on Jan 23, 2021 22:23:11 GMT -6
Josh kicked his feet up onto the middle seat of the sofa, engaging in rather sloppy posture as he advanced the long story scene's text. He wanted to make sure Jae could read it, so both could enjoy the story. "Looks like we've got our work cut out for us. If this is true to the original, we'll be able to do these in almost any order we want," Josh clarified the fairy's instructions. "Also, this is how we get magic. I'll get a lot more than you do, but you'll get a little."Still quite strapped for lucre, Josh didn't bother doing any shopping when the two arrived in Jad; he simply went in and out of the castle town's inn to save before heading south. The enemies to the south were mostly innocent-looking wildlife, though the Mushbooms did have sleeping powder to watch out for. The other enemies were among the weakest in the game - Hawk could take them out in one or two shots. "Looks like everything's still worth only one experience. Let's just find the waterfall and go."--- Jae TsukudaduNYN31h{WC: 182} {PC: 5}
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Post by Jae Tsukuda on Jan 24, 2021 12:40:07 GMT -6
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Post by RaikouRider on Jan 24, 2021 21:48:15 GMT -6
Josh Devlin Jae TsukudaA random event has occurred!On their way to the Waterfall Cavern, Angela and Hawk were cast away from the entrance by a barrier. After a short cutscene where the fairy accompanying the two removed it with a spell, then returned to the space under Angela's hat, the two headed into the Waterfall Cavern. There was something terribly wrong, though - the sound of crashing water was far more static-y than rushing water normally sounded, and the color palette was all messed up! Pink-red water, white cave walls, purple earthen paths...the video and audio both were such a mess! While the enemies were the same as in the forest, most of them were level 3 and 4 instead of level 1...but that meant they would be gaining 3 experience per kill now! The levels would come quite a bit faster, and they would clearly need it!
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